to be pinched for money
Preserved but no longer current.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “to be pinched for money” mean?
To be in financial straits, hard up. Hence, to pinch and scrape, or to pinch it, to economize.
Is “to be pinched for money” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.